Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Spring "Break"

The headline pretty much sums it up. It's spring, I'm technically out of school for the week, but it has been anything but a break. I take my National Board Exam for dental hygiene school in roughly 2 days. Oddly enough, 2 days is exactly the amount of time I've given thus far to preparing for the test. Sounds crazy right? Not only crazy, but incredibly dumb. Please consider that most of my fellow classmates began studying last summer, as in almost a year ago, for this test. Why, in my insanity, I thought that 4 days would be enough is beyond me.

Daniel and I fasted last Tuesday through Friday for a job interview he had, and needless to say, I'm hoping the power of our fasting will transfer to this week! By no means am I expecting the Lord to bless my lack of preparedness; however, that's EXACTLY what I'm hoping will happen.

I've realized though, over the course of having been in school for 6 years, that regardless of how much studying I do for school, if I'm not studying the Word and spending time with Him, I do not make the grade. Example: In my time at Texas A&M, while I sought the Lord more there then I did at Tech, I still was not walking in accordance with His Word and I definitely wasn't committed to consistent, connecting time with Him daily. I could study...............read hundreds of pages................and still just attain mediocrity in school. By the grace of God I graduated.

Dental hygiene school, as I've stated before, separates the women from the girls. My hygiene school experience in itself is testament to the Lord's provision and steadfast presence. When I started at Tyler, I was away from everything I knew; Daniel, my family, a church body I loved, most of my friends. But during this time, I grew more in the Lord than I ever had. I began to hear His voice and sense His direction and presence! I'm a preacher's kid, raised in church all of my life, and had never had these things! It was the ability to discern His voice that opened up the ability to transfer to Temple, and obedience that saw it through.

At Temple, things were different. Harder. But the Lord was there, He had guided me there. He began to spring up within me a hunger for the deeper things of Him. Can you say Baptism of the Holy Spirit? It is this hunger that ultimately drove me to commit to spending time with Him before studying. Often times, as aforementioned, I would wait until the night before a test or the day of to begin studying. And I knew that if I didn't spend time with Him first, any studying I did would be for nothing. I would take the test, perhaps filled with more of His peace than knowledge of the subject I was in, and I would make a good grade--no, I take that back-- a great grade. Am I boasting? Not of myself. Of the Lord. Of His goodness and faithfulness. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying forsake studying or forsake preparedness. I'm just saying don't forsake time with Him.

And man, if you've never taken a test in the power of the Holy Spirit, it will blow you away. There was one test where I literally asked Him several questions of which HE gave me the answers! I mean how do I explain that to my classmates who would ask me how I knew the answer?! Ummm, the Holy Spirit told me?! Nuts!

My sweet friend Alli told me once that the Lord must really want me to be a dental hygienist. I asked "Why do you say that?" Her response was "Because He is choosing to bless you, despite your lack of effort." How undeservedly true. I think it boils down to God, loving to be God, and loving to do crazy stuff that can't be explained except by just giving Him the glory. So pray that I continue to make time for Him above anything else, even above studying for this test and that His glory would be evident in it.